Chuck Most

I'm kind of in the middle... I'm not going to sit there and pour over the thing, comparing it to scale photos with a grid pattern, running along the rub strips with a digital caliper, and lambaste the thing for a very insignificant flaw. Big flaws are bad, but personallly- I can live with a few little ones. But if I have a dead nuts accurate kit, well, that's just as satisfying to look at in its place of honor on the shelf, right? Then again I've built at least one Zinger... But I agree with what Bill said- yes, comparing use of aftermarket parts on a regular injection molded kit to a straight injection molded kit isn't quite an apples-to-apples comparison, but I can tell you with a straight face I've gone way, way, way overboard on some projects, and I've paid way more than the high MSRP of the Meng kit for complete garbage (ie- iffy resin kits and crude but pricey OOP vintage kits). I've spent that much on good resin kits, too. Who here hasn't? From what I've seen of the Meng kits, compared to the quality of most existing light truck kits, and the cost of all the happy horsepuckey that goes along with producing a new tool, full-detail kit nowadays, I don't think the price is too out of line. And the kit isn't out... so we don't even know what the average going rate will be- a lot of retailers will sell it at full MSPR, others, well, won't. I'm sure pretty soon you'll be seeing guys posting saying how they got a killer deal on one of these before too long. Personally? I'd gladly pay full retail for this kit, but if I can get it at a bit of a discount price... well... guess which path I'm going to follow.

I want kits of modern pickups. If I want something, I buy it. Period.The only thing higher prices means to me is that I won't be buying five at a time. And for me, that's a good thing. In other words... me buying one more costly kit means I won't be buying two or three lower priced kits I probably shouldn't have bought in the first place. Back when you could get a kit for ten or twelve bucks, I did that all the time. And I noticed something... the stack of "no way am I ever going to get around to building that" kits in my stash kept growing and growing. These days I wont buy ten of those 1977 Woonsocket Sport Roadster kits unless I have ten specific ideas in mind on how to build it. I won't even buy ten of them for a buck apiece if all they're going to do is take up space in the workshop. The only thing the MSRP on the Meng kit means is that I'll be accumulating mine one-at-a-time, and not by the case load. I don't "need" one, I WANT one. I don't need to spend any money on my hobby, but I do, because I enjoy it. And if I need to spend a little money to send the message I want to send to the kit manufacturers regarding what I want to see in terms of subject matter, I'll do it. If it's a high-quality product, I'll gladly pay a premium for it if it's something I want. I've paid good money for complete junk, but the Meng kit looks to be several cuts above that level, so I think I'll sleep just fine even after having shelled out that much for a model kit. At any rate, even if I pay full retail for the Meng F-350, that's still way less of a hit on my bank account than buying the same truck in 1:1, never mind insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. ...

This is so far my favorite of all the Revell '57 Fords I've seen built.

Not sure if the what-if '41 GT package would have included a Hemi, but hey. Love this model!

No lie there! I've been using that pro street chassis under everything BUT Novas for years... The Rambler actually had the wheels and tires from the Nova when I first built it, too- I added the wheels later. I think it needs a paint job too, since I've gotten way better at laying down paint since I first built it.

It's handy if you go to a party, and people ask "where do I put my empty bottles"? I always tell them just to toss them in the back of the blue F-250 right over there. Good way to get a little extra gas money for the weekend.

Because you might be pulling a loaded trailer behind that empty bed... like I seem to be doing three or four days out of the week. My last pickup had a bumper sticker which read "Yes- this is my truck. No- I won't help you move" on it... I'm thinking I need to get one for my current pickup too.

It would probably work best on a light truck chassis- that's how Jeff shows it set up on his site. Ramp_Truck_Link.

I do hear where you're coming from, as far as not having any new subject matter with the 'big rig' kits, Jake... believe me! If kit manufacturers were making them, I'd be buying and building them, and I'm assuming you would as well. And we wouldn't be the only ones. I can think of at least a half dozen modern Class 8 rigs I'd love to have in scale. Quite a few older rigs I'd like to see, too, but I digress. If you are into car models you tend to get spoiled by the new releases- even though there are fewer and fewer every year. My "gullible oafs" statement (which I stand by) was aimed at Italeri, not truck modelers. From where I sit that seems to be their opinion of US truck modelers. The way I see it, if Italeri wants to make nothing but cabs and hoods for US trucks... they should make nothing but cabs and hoods for US trucks. I do have to give Italeri credit for one thing- they did kind of keep the flame burning for heavy truck modelers while the domestic kit manufacturers were out to lunch. If you ignore the chassis, they look great built. I give them kudos for their parts packs as well. But I really take issue to their use of the Freightliner chassis under too many non-Freightliner subjects, that just smacks of "they'll never know the difference" thinking - that one thing strikes me as a tad insulting from the standpoint of a consumer. Italeri really would have had something great if they'd put the same effort into their US truck kits that they put into their aircraft kits, or even their '30's car kits. And of course Italeri isn't alone in trying to pull the wool over the consumer's eyes - I'm sure you're aware of the AMT T600a, and that Revell AG kit that was supposed to be a Marmon. I'd even go so far as to say that last one was worse than anything Italeri tried to pull... Now- if Meng decides to produce another light truck kit... let's just say, a Ram Power Wagon, and they recycle this Ford chassis under the thing... yeah, I'm not going to be a happy camper, for the same reasons the majority of Italeri American rigs don't thrill me. And I won't be the only one. Alrightie- I've said all I wanna say about THAT matter... now I've got to order a couple of these kits.

I'm not a 'real modeler' and I don't gripe about the trim being too tall, too sweepy fenders, and nonexistant USB ports. Stuff like that doesn't matter to me, and from the photos of this I've seen- all that stuff looks good enough to me. Now- Something like a chassis that's completely wrong for the application? I do have a few problems with a manufactuer who'd do that routinely. Just saying... glad Italeri wasn't the company who finally decided to tackle a Super Duty kit.

Nice! I'd say since it has a Gulf sticker on it, put a Ford GT40 on the back.

What Aaron said- though I'll add that you might be able to find one damaged, broken, or otherwise blemished for dirt cheap. That might be the way to go, especially if you have rebuilding it in mind.

I do wish Jada would cut it out with the chopped tops.... Still want to get one of those Raptors, though.

Danbury Mint did a really nice diecast 1:24 pickup in the late '90's, but I've never seen one in resin, and there isn't one in 1:25 plastic- I seem to remember seeing some small (HO-scale perhaps) examples.

Uptown won't be selling any of their castings for the forseeable future- he's in the process of moving and recently lost his resin guy, so between that he has so far been unable to offer any of his resin products, and hasn't been able to update the site yet.

I didn't know such a thing existed until a few minutes ago, and now I want one!

I'll be watching this! Believe it or not it's been tried in full scale- http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/1-painless-way-to-a-roadster-pickup/

That's why I'm building this thing as a Large Car. The kit has a leaf spring/walking beam setup out back, and the standard parallel leaf spring/solid axle setup up front. No brakes on the front axle if I recall- another clue to the '70's origin of the chassis.

A guy named Sebastien Lebeau used to cast dually bedsides for the longbed version of this kit, but they are no longer in production. Can't tell if those are his bed sides or not. Anyway- love that model! Before the '99 Super Duties came out, this is pretty much what people assumed they were to look like.

That's the great thing about Dean's- he gets a little bit of everything in stock, and doesn't gouge you for it. Love the fact it's only a half-hour drive from my house!

Bandit Resins still shows the '76-77 grille on their site, but I've heard it's OOP for mold repair at the moment. Better get with Kenny for the details on that...

Bingo. Honestly, the price doesn't bother me all that much. This just won't be one of those "buy five at a time" kits for me, personally. It sure beats paying on a 1:1 example if you're looking at it purely from an economics standpoint...

Fit is generally good overall- just make sure you install the dash tilted slightly forward, because it "fits" that way or vertically into the interior tub- when you get the kit and see the mounting surfaces you'll see what I mean. The engine is a Cummins NTA 370 with turbo, and the transmission is a Spicer with an auxillary box. The chassis from this is actually from a '70's AMT KW kit. The Canepa version has different side skirts, and wheel covers which go over the plated Alcoa wheels used in both versions- I think the Canepa wheel covers are in the box in the regular version but not mentioned anywhere.

Thanks for clearing that up! I thought they might have been the ten hole alloys, but for some reason I was thinking they were not plated. Possible? Well, perhaps, but it would be a TON of work. I'd just go with a resin cab, like the Modelhaus or Motor City Resin casters kits.